some of them are not bad but… internet is crazy

Nice to meet you!

Based upon the comments I’m reading here, it’s the same crap that I wasted my time and money on 20 years ago. The folks at the NJ Forum center wanted me to “assist” in recruiting new members constantly, and spend lots of time in seminars and increasingly expensive courses. Of course, the old line was “you’ll get your life out of this!” As an aspiring singer and psychologist, I never understood how “enrolling” people in the Forum created the “possibility” of my achieving those goals. After all, music and grad school are time and effort-intensive.

When I dumped that group after a year and changed my phone number, I “got my life”, and guess what – away from the Forum, I had time start singing professionally and now work with 2 busy music groups, I earned my MA in Mental Health Counseling, I began a healthy and happy relationship with the man of my dreams (getting married next year), and found the time to work with survivors of domestic violence – a cause about which I am passionate.

Please don’t mistake my comments for bitterness – I’m actually thankful for the one BIG lesson the Forum has taught me – if you want to “get your life” you have to just get out there and DO IT. And that’s what I have done.

They purposely stay away from religious/spiritual stuff. I’m assuming it’s because they want to be accessible to all people without imposing on their personal believes. People from all walks of life are welcome. Everyone deserves to participate.

I’m starting a club next semester at the local college and already people are asking me if it’s going to have a spiritual lean. I’m going to stay away from that stuff because I would rather have this personal development club accessable to more people. If I wanted to make a narrow niche religion club I would. If I wanted a medititation club I’d do that. I guess it really depends on what you want your focus to be, and the landmark focus is the world.

If you want to use the distinctions you got from landmark to live a love centered life I think everyone at landmark would be very happy for you. I think that’s a big part of landmark. I remember Susan Rink, my Landmark Forum leader saying that if the only thing we get out of the weekend is the distinction to create an awesome relationship within our own family than that’s mission accomplished. Some people might want to make a huge change within the entire world. They’ll use the tools however they see fit.

The goal of 2020 is to reach that tipping point percentage for the planet. Pretty ambitious goal!

If you look at it from the perspective of Landmark Education you can see why they need to push people to sign up. They have a goal, 2020, and they want to stick to it.

I can understand how Landmark Education goes directly against other beliefs. I wouldn’t let that scare you though. It’s just one more paradigm to look at life with. Pick the one that suits you best.

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A tip for graduates: watch The Matrix and see how many Landmark distinctions you can spot.

Landmark Forum Leaders are amazing and dedicated people. I’m curious as to their salary. I understand they make moderate salaries, do you know how much?

Landmark isn’t as much about telling you what you should be, or how to live you life as much as it is about helping you realize that whoever you already are is extraordinary. They allow you to have another outlook, if you choose, to see that you are capable of anything, and that your past doesn’t have to control your future. It’s just an option they give you, they don’t brainwash you into following it.

Not everyone that works at landmark is a volunteer. The landmark forum leaders are paid. They receive years of training, and they’re pretty good at what they do. You also have to account for the cost of the facilities, the transportation costs, communication fees, etc. Many of the forum leaders are successful people in terms of having a lot of money. The salary they make as a forum leader is that of a middle school teacher. They aren’t doing it for the money. They are giving up a pretty big chunk of their life, and family life, etc. because they believe in this cause.

All the other people that volunteer give up a few hours, or some weekends, and they’re awesome for that, but they all have other jobs to support themselves. The price you pay for the knowledge you get it more than worth it. I can attest to that.

I would think that she’s being the opposite of selfish, by letting you know about it, but possibly taking the wrong approach in her sharing.

Any interest i might have had in attending has gone since i’ve direct experience of knowing someone involved with this dreadful group.

During the first day they tell you that they won’t tell you anything you don’t already know. This isn’t a hidden concept. However, the way they present all this information that you already know, is in such a format, that it gives you access to a paradigm which you can decide to use, or decide not to use, at any point in your life. If there is anything that doesn’t suit you, or isn’t of high value, within the landmark forum curriculum, you can easily decide not to apply it to your life. Just the same, if there is a gem of great value in the forum, it is your responsibility to yourself to take it and run with it.

It’s natural to not be in love with the forum, as you seem to be (well, more in hate than not in love), because of the nature of the course. It brings forth some negative things about yourself, and welcomes you to consider that you are responsible for your life, instead of being a victim of circumstance. It’s natural to hate someone that tell you you are responsible for your misery (and also your happiness), so you are the one that’s going to have to pull yourself out of it.

I wasn’t in your forum, and I don’t know what the speaker/participant interaction was like in order to even try and explain what you experienced. This goes for the supervisor too. People will be people, and will tend to do what it is that they do. After landmark, if you payed attention, and you stayed till the end, you gain the ability to use a tool, whenever you decide to. If there was a sort of dishonesty in a person (supervisor in this case), or reason that you deemed less than pure and honorable, than it is a shame you associated it with the organization as a whole. Perhaps you could appreciate that somehow one bad apple could taint an image, or how what you saw might be different from what really happened.

My personal experience with the landmark forum is quite different from yours. The people, including myself, that have gone through the landmark forum curriculum, have emerged on the other side with an amazing new ability/experience, feeling great about the whole process. Not to say that your experience is wrong. It is what it is. It just seems like you are blaming instead of taking responsibility. I can’t see that as a healthy way of dealing with any situation. However, I might be wrong, I often am.

The speaker seemed to badger and create hysteria for one woman and the supervisor pocketed $10 bill I had found in the room instead of making a announcement. Meanwhile I kept hearing about “integrity and honesty”. This whole experience was more a torture than education. It only teaches you what you already know but your ego has seemed to block. Simply be careful if you are weak minded or at wits end Just like everything else, you will think exactly how they tell you how to think.

A very pricey lesson that life can only teach.